At the start of the pandemic, Arundhati Roy, the author who introduced much of my country to the Booker Prize, declared that “historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” After having lived four years inside this “next world” I wonder if we can say with certainty what kind of a portal 2020 was? Has whatever was supposed to have metamorphosed done so?
In our morning reading: a playlist from Mike Fu, an interview with James Reich, and more.
In our afternoon reading: inside the “Weird Tales” archive, an interview with Jeff VanderMeer, and more.
In our Halloween reading: thoughts on new books by Tony Tulathimutte and Alan Moore, new books in translation, and more.
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Jeff VanderMeer, revisiting the works of M.R. James, and more.
In our morning reading: new writing by Zito Madu, interviews with Margaret Wappler and Joshua Mohr, and more.
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Nate Lippens, checking in with Desert Island, and more.
There’s a long and storied history of tales of American academics becoming unmoored far from home. J.M. Tyree’s The Haunted Screen is an impressive entry in this literary lineage: its protagonist is dealing with the erosion of his marriage and a the echoes of a past relationship, even as he muses on the influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. There’s also a possibly malevolent presence lurking in the woods and a sense that several characters know more than they’re letting on; it’s a concentrated dose of heady musings and travels into the uncanny. I spoke with Tyree about writing the book, the ways film can inform literature, and the nature of haunting.